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Tag Manchester City Council elections

We're looking ahead to council elections in Manchester this May already. The Labour party have made no secret that they want a one party state of Mancunia. That will be bad for our communities, bad for our city, bad for democracy.
So, we're after people to step up and be candidates for the Pirate Party in Manchester. You don't have to have any particular background, just to want real change in this city. Don't leave it to the same old tired lot. It's time to offer a different vision for housi...Read more →

Manchester Confidential 's Ragnhildur Finsdottir approached me a couple of weeks ago and asked me a few questions on the Pirate Party and why I'm standing at the local elections for Manchester City Centre (next Thursday 3rd May). Here is the link to the article "The Pirate Party UK And The Digital Battleground" that got published yesterday, and below is the full interview in a Q & A format:
What do you hope to get from these elections?
I want a seat on the Manchester City Coun...Read more →

A couple of years ago, at the 2010 General Elections, everyone was shocked and abhorred that the BNP took 4% of the votes. "Who voted for those fascists?!" and "Where is our Democracy going?" were among the things people were shouting about. And yet only 47% of Mancunians actually went out to vote! This means that 53% stayed at home implying that "Democracy is something that happens to other people"! Many of them say they are "not interested in Politics", "Politics is boring", "All Politicians...Read more →

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Upcoming Events

We’re back in the newly refurbished Manchester Digital Laboratory this month for our first meetup of 2015. This month we have two speakers on the theme of Bitcoin in politics: Gulnar Hasnain of the Green Party andCristian Chesha of the Pirate Party. They will each give a short talk, then they will both sit on a panel where you can ask them questions together. (Note: this isn’t a political hustings, so we have to avoid “What would you do if you were elected?” type questions. But you’ll be able to ask as many questions about broader Bitcoin & politics topics as you like!) Gulnar Hasnain – Green Party Gulnar Hasnain (@gulnar73) is the parliamentary candidate for The Green Party in Vauxhall, London (for which she is accepting bitcoin donations), and co-founder of CoinSummit, a company that curates events connecting Bitcoin entrepreneurs with investors. Gulnar will be talking about why she has decided to accept Bitcoin for her parliamentary campaign. She will offer her personal perspective on what implications Bitcoin might have for politics, the environment, and business. Gulnar will be happy to answer questions on all of these. Prior to being self-employed, Gulnar served as Head of Environment and Sustainability Strategy for the Mayor of London’s economic development agency, with responsibilities in climate change, health inequalities, and urban regeneration (with a focus on clean tech). She has received an MBA from the University of Chicago in 2011, an MSc in Development Studies from Birkbeck University, London and an MEng in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London. Gulnar is married with two children and has spent time living in Italy, Portugal and Turkey. Gulnar explains why she is standing as a parliamentary candidate: “After spending a year in Istanbul I have first hand experience of how a wonderful city can be ruined and the rights of vulnerable communities ignored if a strong Green lobby is not challenging the government on issues such as transport, affordable housing and access to green spaces. It is the reason why when I moved back to London I became more active in local campaigning. We want to see real change towards a fairer society. The government should be there to serve the majority, not just the interests of a few.” Cristian Chesha – Pirate Party Cristian Chesha (@Chesha) is the 2015 Pirate Party UK candidate for Manchester Gorton. Pirate Party UK were the first UK political party to accept Bitcoin, and this year, under Cristian’s guidance, they have expanded to include: Litecoin, Dogecoin, Peercoin and Darkcoin (the top 5 mineable crypto currencies by market cap). Cristian is a GNU/Linux professional who has advocated the use of free software and campaigned for digital liberty for over 15 years. He has spent the last 9 years working at the University of Manchester, and looks after their Linux Web Infrastructure estate. Cristian is a long-time member of the crypto community, and has mined and dabbled with a wide variety of coins. He says: “The last couple of years have been … Read more →

Watch Laura Poitras’ multiple award-winning documentary about the NSA Spying Scandal, and whistleblower Edward Snowden, at a free screening in Fallowfield. Pirate Party UK will be screening CITIZENFOUR, in Squirrels Bar at 7pm on Thursday 16th April, as part of our 2015 campaign for Manchester Gorton constituency. In June 2013, following up from encrypted emails from a stranger called “CITIZENFOUR”, accompanied by investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald and The Guardian’s intelligence reporter Ewen MacAskill, Laura Poitras went to Hong Kong with her camera for the first meeting with the stranger, who identified himself as Edward Snowden. Several other meetings followed; the recordings gained from these meetings form the basis of the film. “No amount of familiarity with whistleblower Edward Snowden and his shocking revelations of the U.S. government’s wholesale spying on its own citizens can prepare one for the impact of Laura Poitras’s extraordinary documentary Citizenfour…” Ronnie Scheib of Variety Time magazine rated the film #8 out of its top 10 movies of 2014 and called the film “This Halloween’s Scariest Chiller” CITIZENFOUR covers a lot of issues that are core to the Pirate Party, such as warrantless wiretapping, mass surveillance and the need for protection for whistleblowers and journalists alike. We want a Government that supports free speech, personal privacy and that is accountable and transparent. We believe that a government that treats its citizens as adversaries can no longer be considered democractic or representative. We don’t think it has to be this way. Your candidate Cristian Chesha, and a team of PPUK members will be available during the film showing, and there will be a short discussion forum afterwards if you have any questions arising from the film, or about what we stand for. There will be a free drink during the interval for the first 30 people to sign up to our eventbrite page. Interested? Sign up. Tell your friends. How can I find out more? You can find out more about us and our policies here Follow your local Candidate Cristian Chesha on Twitter Read his personal Pirate Party Blog Follow CITIZENFOUR on Twitter Follow the Pirate Party Manchester on Twitter Think Different? Vote Different.